Pages

Welcome to Scottish Genealogy Tips And Tidbits

A wee bit of info to help you in your journey to discover your Scottish Ancestors and maybe even crack a brick wall or two!

Wednesday, 5 October 2016

Family History Month - Mort Cloths

Mortcloths
were used for the dressing of the body in cases where no coffin was used.
Pauper burials, for example, did not include a coffin. In cases where coffins
were used, the mortcloth was draped over the casket.

There
were three types of Mortcloth:

Best
mortcloth - this was generally made of velvet, cost more to rent
and was saved for the better heeled of the community. Rental fees for Best
mortcloth may have averaged between 6-11/

Regularmortcloth - this was plush but not
as elegant as velvet. Rental fees for Regular mortcloth was often between
3-5/

Child's
mortcloth - this was a smaller version of the Regular mortcloth. Rental fees for a Child's mortcloth
was generally 2/ or less

Typical
entry for a burial. This shows the payment for the rental of "best mort
cloth"

The entry reads, " Sept 17 This day was Buried Mr John Haddow
in Easterseat

for best morth cloth paid 10/"

(1792 OPR Deaths 629/00 0020 0331 John Haddow, Carluke)

Well
to do families often had their own mortcloth and so had no need to rent one
from the local kirk. However, this may be where you see rental fees for
candles, or payment for food at the reception following the burial. Or there
may not be anything recorded at all.

Similarly,
many trades had a mortcloth that could be used should a member of the trade
die. Again, there would not be a need for the rental from the parish, so no
record would exist. The records for the business or trade union may show the use of the mortcloth, but these records
are generally not easily accessible unless you are in Scotland and can visit
the National Library of Scotland, which has the largest collection of Trade
Union records.

About Me

Scottish born, Canadian raised, Christine Woodcock had the
best of both worlds, growing up immersed in Scottish culture. Realising that
others of the Scots diaspora were not as fortunate, she started her business,
Genealogy Tours of Scotland (https://www.genealogytoursofscotland.ca/)
to allow others researching their Scottish roots the opportunity to return to
the land of their ancestors, conduct family history research and deepen their
sense of belonging to their ancestral kin.